Elephants in South Africa traveled for 12 hours to say goodbye to their savior

Sometimes, the bond we build with animals is so strong, we never expected it will be to the point of them attending our funeral. That was exactly what happened to the man widely known as the elephant whisperer, Lawrence Anthony.

Anthony is an environmentalist from South Africa. Loved nature since he was a child, he devoted his life to protect the environment.

In early 1990, he bought a 5000-acre of land in South Africa and established a place called Thula Thula: Private Game Reserve and Safari Lodge.

At that time, a national park in South Africa was attacked by hunters and eight elephants ran out.

The elephants were causing panic to the residents from nearby villages. Hence, Anthony decided that he will take them before the villagers do.

It was never his intention to keep elephants in Thula Thula but he knew if he refused, a herd of elephants would be killed.

“They might not believe in human, but I hope at least they can believe in me,” said Anthony about his elephants.

Unfortunately, Anthony died from a heart attack in March 2012. While Anthony’s wife was mourning the death of her husband, the staff told her that a group of elephants led by Nana was heading towards the cabin.

The first group of elephants arrived in the early morning and another group arrived the next day.

All 21 elephants lined up in front of the cabin and made some kind of whining sound, probably mourning the death of their guardian angel, Anthony. According to his son, Dylan, the elephants lived quite far away.

However, Dylan further explained that they must have sensed the death of someone who’s like a father to them and traveled for 12 hours just to mourn for him.

One year later, Nana once again took her elephant group and appeared in front of the cabin, remembering the death of their beloved benefactor.

This is another extraordinary proof of animal sensitivity and awareness when their leader passed away and in this case, the beautiful relationship was captured when Nana and the herds mourn for Anthony.